There is a difference between a writer and a scholar. A writer is a written word artiste, a scholar is loyal to the evidence at hand rather than a drift for art. Writer treats his life as a performing art.
Author: changethinker
Born and raised in Mumbai, India with an undergrad degree from Oman and a masters degree from the National University of Singapore. I am an Environmental Professional with a passion for Sustainability, Social Innovation and Governance related issues. A Change Agent in the making who believes that small is beautiful and that impact can be achieved -one soul at a time.
Conversations with Cabbies: Delhi Edition
Just met a super courteous elderly Sikh man Sukhdev Singhji in Nehru Place after our biannual health screening, who drove us home. He broke bread with Sir Ben Kingsley during the making of Gandhi and Satyajit Ray during ‘Shatranj ke Khiladi’ as he worked for the producer of these films. He drove for 8.5 years on behalf of the Embassy of Western Sahara. We were discussing Polisario Movement and Magrebi Colonial Politics driven by phosphorus during the 15 minute drive. Some days do make me wonder about the sheer wealth of understanding academic life outside the ivory tower of Commercialization. 
Bhatt on Bollywood
Mahesh Bhatt to Karan Thapar in an India Today TV Interview: ‘We make two kinds of films; to comfort the jolted, and to jolt the comforted- for the jolted it is an ice pack and painkiller, and for the rich, pain is an aphrodisiac’ in response to a question on whether cinema is for changing the world.
And
‘We are not in the truth peddling business, we are in the illusion manufacturing business’
No one articulates it better than Mr Bhatt; the provocateur exemplar.
Reimagining Azadi: Making it matter
Happy Azadi Day India. May we reimagine the way we look after marginalized communities from Bastar to Bombay as we turn 70. It seems too many folks are squeezed in the middle and on the margins. The business of democracy is an imperfect transaction, and we seem to be operating on an auto pilot mode, the energy to change the drift of the discourse on inclusive growth and buy in is missing big time. The nationalist rhetoric has to move from the Times Now Studios to the actual project delivery in the micro politics of everyday life. Let’s talk more with humility with our community members to improve livelihoods wherever we are.
The future does not lie in a utopian city overseas for the middle class, or the urban centre for the poor, it lies where we are. Aspirations need to be actualized in order for a real Idea of India to matter from the text to experience. Let India be prosperous and peaceful for the year ahead from Imphal to Anantnag. Bharat Mata Ki Jai!
Scale or Intellectual Independence: the funding holy grail for non profits
It is a well known fact that non profits and policy thinks alike generate funding from corporate sources to influence the discourse on ideas rather than the normative objective of independent research, which is often spewed about with zero conviction. Nothing is independent if the staffer bills are not paid and the rentals are due. Both the stakeholders are cannot claim to hold the moral ground than consultants and lobbyists.
The reputational capital is compromised; so why maintain the charade?
Fund raising always has strings attached. ‘Please read the T&C carefully’ one does not have to read The New York Times reportage to be aware of this funder- grantee conflict of interest tangle. Just read out a grant call aloud to understand the politics of development. Oh yes, a grant needs to be filed to study it right?
The only way to retain independence is to self generate revenue or be self funded. The scale is then impacted. Impact should be an outcome and not an indicator. The moral entrepreneurs are no better than the real estate agent around your block.
Madaari : An Anti Corruption Narrative
Madaari is a cerebral masterclass directed by Nishikant Kamath on the helplessness of the average educated Indian Middle Class to voice out their grievances apart from the elections which at the most is a nominal democracy. This film follows the usual underdog vigilante justice route, but has some gems when the character of the eight year old kidnapped boy threatens the assailant as the son of the home minister, that the language of power is understood by a kid. The film explores themes such as overpopulation, inter religious marriage, migration and single parenting with the simplicity which reminded me of ‘Lunch Box’.
The ‘HIdden Business of Indian Democracy’ with all it’s shenanigans such as fundraising through bad infra deals which crash. Irrfan aces his role with a solid presence on the screen. Such political activist cinema comes rarely, reminds me of ‘Rang De Basanti’ in terms of solid cinema. The illusion of Indian Politics is laid bare through fiction of cinema. The anti corruption narrative gets a voice as the Lokpal gets institutionalised.
Keep Knocking, Keep Building
Criticizing is an intellectually lazy activity. Building a project or a product which has impact is the hard part. The outlier will be considered not cool. Keep knocking and you will certainly build something of worth, if not a unicorn or any other measure of success. Build a community paper and a cultural space on the lines of Mohsin Malhar da of Banglar Kantha Singapore or take up projects which no one wants to touch.
Business Development for Independent Writers: A Primer
I love self publishing, because I write on topics of impact in the tenor and grammar in which it is to be delivered. The IoT era, is the content centric era, as distribution is democratic. Thought Leadership is about social and intellectual capital and with the medium of the internet on smart phones, the independent voice gets amplified.
Self Publishing gets demonized by professional writers as they suggest that they write for their supper and that self publishing destroys the market for content. I contend that if one writes well and has a niche to cater, writing assignments will come your alley. After all, a writer is a creative entrepreneur where how one sells, is as vital to getting oneself paid.
Writing brings in the network as ideas get a life of their own as ideas achieve resonance with the target audience that the idea has in triggering a dialogue. Speaking and Training assignments are more important from a revenue stand point than a 100 dollars per a 800 word article, which is the standard rate. At this rate, it would be very complicated to meet ends leave alone invest in experiential and textual resources to up the game.
One more aspect, i want to bring to ones notice in this post, is to resist the temptation to hard sell. Relationship building is more vital, as ‘Waasta’ the Arabic word for connections, is girded with the notion of trust. If the client trusts the content, it is easier to up sell.
Lastly, write visions and voices and not dry data, and connect to the audience. The ROI comes much later.
Cities have to livable, not smart
With recent urban floods in the so called Indian Silicon Valley and The ‘Sahara Mall NH10’ City, I wonder if the narrative will move to climate governance in cities from being technologically smart in design, and rather dysfunctional on the ground. The notion of sociotechnical resilience as I wrote in a January 2013 conference paper in a planning commission conference in Vadodara for Climate Change Governance in Urban India really needs to be looked in to from a livability perspective. Social Anthropologist Amitav Ghosh with his latest work on Climate Change titled the ‘The Great Derangement’ sounds off a precinct warning with the chapter on Mumbai.
Questioning Impact?
As I scribble my thoughts on my six year old web blog, and narrate ideas small and major, literary and factual, writing takes on the form of an autobiographical journey, where common themes emerge which map out my interests. I have enjoyed my struggles taking on new themes every few months, jumping geographies; textual and real, have made non linear learning and intellectual diversity a strength. But what is depth? May be its passion and knowledge intersecting with market demand. May be the quest for impact just got real.
Is impact measured by the market? Is little impact on a community wide initiative not impact? Or does impact have to be defined by market measures of scaling up and the bottom line. What are our measures of meaning, determine what really is of meaning to a professional as without meaning work would just be a chore.
Change Thinker 